Song Making

Recording seems to be done finally.  Something like 40+ tracks, and all that remains is the final mixing and mastering.  I'm featured many more times on this song that I expected - funny considering I started the darn thing. 

In any case, we're going to try and start promotion on it as a single within the next few days, and get it online for distribution as soon as we can.  If it's well received, that will be a pretty good carrot for the rest of the album.

Thursday, December 20th 2012

This is a story I wrote for the 100 Word Stories Weely Challenge that sadly did not get in on time, but I had fun writing it so I thought I would share it anyway.  The topic was "pudding".


"Let's run through the checklist, and then we'll lock up," Pete said to his wife.

"Water?"

"Check."

"Matches?"

"Check."

"Coffee?"

"Check."

"Pudding?"

"... uh..."

"You forgot the pudding????"

"I thought you were bringing it."

He thought a moment, then said, "forget it.  It ain't worth it now."  He paused a moment longer, then stormed out of the bunker, muttering angrily to himself.

Waiting until he left, Amelia closed the steel door and flipped the switch for the hydraulic seal.  She checked the oxygen levels, nodded, and reached behind the shelf for a chocolate pudding.  Humming to herself cheerfully, she began eating.

Feeling artistic today

I'm feeling good - less consumer and more creator.  The band has been working on a couple of tunes, one of which I wrote.  I tried my hand at vocal arrangements, and I'm not half bad.

Zak is mixing like a fiend, but it still could be weeks or even months before the song is public ready.  That's ok, it will be all the more exciting after a long buildup.

It's a mind blowing adventure that I never in my life pictured being part of.  Fun fun!

Speaking of art, here's something I did many years ago.  No Photoshop or digital manipulation; just me with a 35mm camera, a lucky shutter / zoom combo, and a touch of sepia to mellow out the contrast:

I wish today were every day.

I swear, Sundays are just the best.  I sleep in, laze about with my darling, eat something ambitious for breakfast, and eventually get into a shower.  And then the REAL Sunday begins.

Like today, beginning with some mindless meandering around the Internet, followed up by a session of lyric tweaking for a song we're working on to make it more singable.  Then I go read for a bit while he lays down some bass and guitar, and eventually I decide it's time to eat something lunch-like, so I head to the Taco Bell for a truckload of tacos.  Yeah, that's right - Taco Bell.

Now I'm back and waiting for my turn on vocals, and then later we meet up with some friends virtually and play music trivia.

Honestly, I can't think of a better day.

Random Thoughts of the Day

Weird Thought of the Day:

People are essentially the same physically - meaning that barring any injury or birth defect, we all have 2 arms, legs, hands, feet, lungs, kidneys, 1 heart, stomach, etc. etc..  Identical in nearly every way.  Well, there are 2 genders, but within each gender we have the same anatomy.  So why do we have different blood types?  I can give to A's and AB's but not O's... but I can take blood from an O... it's like a weird blood giving pyramid.  How did that happen?


Gruesome Thought of the Day:

Sometimes when I'm driving home from work with the radio cranked up really loud, I can't help but look at the way the other drivers are driving and think, "When that jagoff runs his stupid beemer into me and sends my car flying into and over the car next to me, is this song the last thing I'm going to hear as I lay there mangled and bloody and slipping into unconsciousness?"


Happy Thought of the Day:

Is there anything more fun than cruising down the freeway with your stereo cranked?

Avoiding the Mundane

So, now that I've decided I'm a blogger again, I'm running into that awful thing I like to call "Twitter Syndrome", where I have to fight to not write about every little thing that happens to me. 

All morning I've been quelling internal insanity like, "I'm eating salmon cream cheese!  Gotta blog it.", "Awww, kitty is cute!  Gotta blog it.", "WTF is my stupid neighbor yelling about now? Gotta blog it, gotta blogit, gottablogit.", etc., etc.,.

The truth is that this is a typical Monday and nothing much worth talking about, except for the progress that "my band" is making on one of our songs (which is awesome), and the fact that I dropped salmon cream cheese on my keyboard just now, and kitty promptly jumped up to eat it (which is exactly what I would have done).

Winter is almost upon us - again.

It's beginning to look a lot like redundancy.  Every year I think about all of the things on my to do list, and all of the things I've been putting off all year, decade, and my life.  The pressures of my job can only go so far as an excuse, and the fact is I do my job better when I have a creative outlet, so... here is my promise to myself - starting now, I will:

1. Write more
2. Photograph more
3. Sing more
4. Find more music
5. For the love of all that's holy, clean the damn closets already

#1 - I'm taking care of it.  Not just here, but also here.
#2 - I would love to, but first I need to invest in a better camera.  Hmmm.  Christmas.  Hmmm....
#3 - Easy peasy.  I'm working on a musical project with my friend Bunny Knutson, and the love of my life Zak Claxton, and they're expecting me to pull my weight.  With enough practice I might even begin to sound better.
#4 - All hail the mighty Genius, and the occasional iTunes gift card.  Hmmm again.
#5 - This one probably won't get done until next year.  Ah well.  I tried my best.

And yes, I realize that if you look at the very first post of evey blog ever created on Blogger, they all probably look a lot like this one.

I know a special secret about this blog though....

This is the second time I have started it.


EDIT:  Holy crap, I got the closets cleaned out.

NEW EDIT:  AAAAAAND... the closets need attention again. <sigh>